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Prostitutes Call for a Ban on GTA
Posted by
Zonk
on Wed Feb 15, 2006 04:45 PM
from the encouraging-better-customers dept.
from the encouraging-better-customers dept.
d writes "Gamespot has an article about an association of prostitutes protesting the GTA games. Apparently, the sex workers of the Sex Workers Outreach Project aren't too happy about their ingame counterparts being treated violently in the GTA games. They note that the games are a bad influence on children, and might encourage rape and violent behavior towards prostitutes in real life."
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casualsax3 writes "Take Two, the publisher of Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, is facing more legal action over the game. Separately, two law firms have filed class-action lawsuits on behalf of shareholders who they say lost money due to the controversy about the game. This comes right on the heels of news that the
Sex Workers Outreach Program is
calling for a boycott of the game."
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Prostitutes? (Score:5, Funny)
Fuck them!
Re:Prostitutes? (Score:5, Funny)
Parent
Re:Prostitutes? (Score:5, Interesting)
Joke aside, not all prostitutes or prostitution environments are the same. GTA tends to portray the cliche streetwalker/drug addict/forced-into-by-pimp hookers. Brothels, escorts, call-girls, strippers, and porn actresses (including the amateur/web stuff) have different environments [findarticles.com] from this.
I'm surprised nobody has made the argument that the violence against hookers (the streetwalking/drug addict/pimp kind) in GTA might actually educate youngsters that hooking (SW/DA/pimp kind) can be dangerous and undesirable [prostitutionresearch.com], as opposed to "Pretty Woman" and similar portrayals which may cause more women to get into prostitution [prostitutionresearch.com].
Of course for that to happen it would have to be little girls that play GTA, which is the main demographic to play it, right? Guys? Hello? Why are you all looking at me funny?
Parent
Re:Prostitutes? (Score:5, Insightful)
That totally cracked me up. But seriously, people have got to lighten up. This is a GAME! Are SWAT unions protesting because they're the main target in CounterStrike? Is Germany demanding that the US stop selling Battlefield 2, because it depicts violence directed to German citizens? I would guess the answers would be "no", and "no".
Not to say that these games will ruffle some feathers (I read recently about some indians threatening to sue a game company because of its 1800's shooter), but they're not supposed to be representations of real life. Anyone stupid enough, or sick enough, to believe that and later try to do it in real life, ought to be locked up anyway.
Marcos
Parent
Justifying your vice. (Score:5, Funny)
Life (as I learned it from GTA) (Score:5, Interesting)
So now we're done
A. Kill her and take my monies back.
B. Keep her around in the car to do more money exchange.
The way I see it, the game is encouraging me not to harm her because if I do, I'm going to get my monies back but I have to drive all the way back into town and I do not want the po-po on me right now.
Btw, I learned all this like five years ago from this game. Where was this "sex workers group" when the game came out? They're a bit late to stop it from being released.
I like how from TFA: So let me get this straight
Re:Life (as I learned it from GTA) (Score:5, Insightful)
That sounds like the difference between European and American censorship. If think we (the EU) have it right on this one. In my ideal world we're all exposed to sex, rather than violence
Parent
Ban the parents then... (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Ban the parents then... (Score:5, Insightful)
Isn't it a bunch of prostitutes doing the protests? Don't you think they would have some experience with exploitation and violence?
Parent
Wait, isn't prostitution illegal? (Score:5, Funny)
Something about glass houses comes to mind here.
Why haven't police done the same? (Score:5, Funny)
How's Jack going to react? (Score:5, Funny)
We should have a slogan:
"Jack Thompson: Working with the street-walkers to keep your kids safe"
"No-body has their pulse on the average American cum-catcher like Jack"
I an just see the trials on CourtTV now (Score:5, Funny)
Attorney: "Are you a prostitute?"
Whore: "Yes, I am"
CNN's Anderson Cooper: "And in today's news, the 1000th prostitute was thrown in jail for admitting they were in the illegal sex trade. Thousands more are lining up around the block to give their testimony to the supreme court...."
Title of this article is misleading (Score:5, Informative)
Ban means "to prohibit especially by legal means" (Merriam-Webster [m-w.com]).
They're exercising a free speech right, not trying to infringe on others'.
Disappointed with Link... (Score:5, Funny)
Of all the claims... (Score:5, Insightful)
I know it all seems silly, prostitutes complaining and drawing parallels from a video game to real violence. But in reality prostitues are pretty much an accepted thing in America (even though many would have you believe otherwise) and after reading a book a while back about the Mustang Ranch in Vegas, I have a whole new outlook on them and their trade. The knee jerk reaction is to laugh it off, but I truly believe this compalint is the most valid yet.
Strange bedfellows (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Strange bedfellows (Score:5, Funny)
Yes, we have everyone from all walks of life protesting GTA. All the good & bad people(depending on your perspective) are putting aside their differences to stop GTA. GTA is helping unite the world. Pimps will stop slapping their hoes, drug dealers will stop killing deadbeat buyers and Hatians will stop, um, whatever Hatians do for a moment to protest a freakin' video game.
Before GTA, wow, we were so blind to the social problems in the world. We only needed a video game to finally reflect it!
Parent
Re:Heh (Score:5, Insightful)
Parent
Re:Here's to calling the kettle black (Score:5, Insightful)
But still, if it comes down to consensual sex versus beating/killing people, I'd think that the sex would be less harmful to children.
Parent
Re:Here's to calling the kettle black (Score:5, Insightful)
Parent
Re:Here's to calling the kettle black (Score:5, Insightful)
Parent
Re:Here's to calling the kettle black (Score:5, Funny)
Parent
You're already selling yourself (Score:5, Funny)
Let's see, hookers sell a few hours of their time, perform questionable acts for money, and in the ideal situation, make you feel like you'r the most important part of their day. Tries to avoid virus and worm outbreaks with best practices.
System admin, sells all of his or her time, performs questionable acts for money. May try to make his customers happy. Tries to avoid virus and worm outbreaks with best practices. Demanding customers may make this difficult.
Consultant. See hooker.
All in all, a hooker has better pay scale, less hours, and a chance to negotiate a better working environment. Also less likely to be outsourced.
Parent
Re:Joke? (Score:5, Insightful)
No, it's not. And if you read their website, you'd see why it's not. For one thing, they have a goal for the decriminaliztion for the consensual sex industry, among other things (such as laws to help protect prostitutes). What more they outline their motives in a clear way, showing that through reform prostitutes can be helped rather than left to fend for themselves.
It's an intersting debate for where to draw the line between what laws are considered ethical. It's common for playing video games to be ethical, although sometimes they're content is not, but in the end they're legal. Murder is considered unethical, so it's illegal. Prostitiution is a strange one: prostitutes give their consent, so realistically they are not being harmed since they have the option of avoiding the situation if proper precautions are taken. Someone might argue that by consenting they are harming themselves, which is another matter all together, but you can say the same for tobacco.
Their members have a different set of morals, and believe that their freedoms as citizens are being restricted by the morals of others. You don't have to agree with them, but at least they're being logical about it.
Although I do see the humor in the irony in trying to get parents who probably view them as the lowest human lifeform to join their cause against the game. That's just silly.
Parent